Nairobi station of Chinese built Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya

Background

Kenya’s president in Washington on 23rd May 2024, to mark the 60th anniversary of the US-Kenya relations. While announcing the visit, the White House listed its other purposes including celebrating partnership, strengthening commitment to peace and security, expanding economic ties, and defending democracy. Still, it added other areas of engagement including people-to-people ties, trade and investment, technological innovation, climate and clean energy, and health and security, among others. One might be forgiven for thinking that the Kenyan leader will be in the US for a whole month given this long list of activities, before realizing that Washington is trying to replace substance with words, as it has nothing tangible to offer. The US ambassador to Kenya revealed that the visit will last one week, which is grossly insufficient to exhaustively address the listed purposes, which makes the visit symbolic. Surprisingly, the visit’s symbolic goal was revealed by the same ambassador, who revealed that it will be ‘a great honor to the President and Kenyans’. Clearly, as the east discusses infrastructure, trade, and investment, the US is self-absorbed in symbolism, an aspect that seems to have been noted by the Kenyan government, which despite maintaining close relations with the US obtains infrastructural investment from China for mega projects such as the Nairobi-Thika Superhighway, the Nairobi Expressway, and the Nairobi-Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), to mention but a few. This article illustrates Washington’s imperial motivations for inviting Kenya, its lack of proposals for tangible growth, and how it will easily renege on potential agreements arrived at during this meeting, like it has always done to black people.

Washington’s Show, and its Real Essence

The White House’s claims........

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